Freemasons, Washington, and Tecumseh

Newcomb:  Something missing from PBS’s ‘Tecumseh’s Vision’A couple years ago, when a woman from the production staff at WGBH in Boston called me at an early point in the project, I told her, “If you really want to tell the story of Tecumseh and his brother, then you need to accurately explain what they were up against.”

There is a fascinating back story leading up to Tecumseh’s remarkable campaign to unify the Indian nations. It traces to the Freemason founding of the United States. Some sense of this story is revealed in the book “The Secret Founding of America: The Real Story of Freemasons, Puritans, & the Battle for the New World,” by Nicholas Hagger (1998). This is not some crackpot “conspiracy theory,” it is the lesser known history of Freemasonry which is at the heart of the founding of the United States. It involves a well-conceived, long-range plan to take over and profit from the sale of all Indian lands in the Northwest Territory. The efforts of Tecumseh and his brother, and their allies, represent a concerted effort to stop this from happening.

George Washington (a freemason) plays a prominent role in the history. He had his eye on the Ohio Valley lands from the time he was young. He was a surveyor and land speculator, and other members of his family were also land speculators (his brothers were members of the Ohio Company). He referred to the United States as “our infant empire.”

Washington was the first to propose the colonization of the Ohio Valley, and he once said, “If the scheme of establishing a new government on the Ohio, in the manner talked of, should ever be effected, these must be the most valuable lands in it.”Comment:  I don't agree that Tecumseh's Vision was missing something. Here's why:

1) The We Shall Remain episodes were packed with information already. There was little or no room to explore other aspects of Native history.

2) These episodes were supposed to be biopics--i.e., life stories told through the eyes of the participants. Tecumseh didn't know all the historical forces arrayed against him, so it would've been misleading to tell viewers about them.

3) These episodes were supposed to be snapshots of American (Indian) history, not a comprehensive review. They were meant to inspire people to learn more, not to tell them everything.

PBS could do a whole series on presidents and Indians--perhaps telling the stories of George Washington, Andrew Jackson, Abraham Lincoln, Teddy Roosevelt, and Richard Nixon. It would take another five episodes of 1.5 hours each to do the subject justice. Criticizing Tecumseh's Vision for not telling Washington's story is like criticizing a Washington documentary for not telling Tecumseh's story.

For more on the subject, see Review of Tecumseh's Vision.